Grillo is a terminal-based chat client and server. It was originally written as an `chat server entry`_ for the `Rossetta Code Project`_. It was then extended further into reusable threaded classes for the server and client, with command line options and some basic in-chat commands.

Grillo is named after the `Italian phone`_ of the same name, developed in 1965. They both share the common theme of being a very small communications device for their class, while being implemented with relatively basic technology.

Given that there are many richer and more powerful applications available for implementing the features Grillo provides, its best use at the least is to serve as a good example of how to do basic socket programming in Python, as well as a demonstrating some simple tricks for controlling threads.

Installation:

Assuming you have `setuptools`_ installed, the easiest method is to install directly from pypi by running the following command:

easy_install -U grillo

Otherwise you can download Grillo and install it directly from source:

python setup.py install

Usage:

Once installed, the command ``grillo`` should be available which can be used for starting a server, client, or both at once (the default):

grillo --bind host:port [--server-only|--client-only]

Note that the Grillo does not need to be installed in order to connect to a Grillo server, as the telnet command available on most modern systems can be used: